I know that when you first boot up the live cd, you have to enter "startx". I had a laptop, and it used to work fine. But then I upgrade to an HP laptop, and when I enter "startx", it flashed to a black screen, then returns to the terminal, with this"

...and of course you have already reviewed /var/log/Xorg.0.log, since the screen capture so blatantly tells you that it is recording information there.

naturally you have already attempted to resolve any issues that it listed by troubleshooting and quite possibly using search engines to determine the appropriate steps to follow.

because certainly you would have done that as well as attempted the many offered solutions to be found within these very forums before doing something as ridiculous as asking questions about such a well documented problem.

...and of course you have already reviewed /var/log/Xorg.0.log, since the screen capture so blatantly tells you that it is recording information there.

naturally you have already attempted to resolve any issues that it listed by troubleshooting and quite possibly using search engines to determine the appropriate steps to follow.

because certainly you would have done that as well as attempted the many offered solutions to be found within these very forums before doing something as ridiculous as asking questions about such a well documented problem.

of course you did. and we are proud of you. keep up the good work.

I came here looking for the same info because i have NEVER used linux before and i just wanted to say what a complete **** YOU are.
How about just removing your conceited pompous head from your **** and proffer up a bit of solid advice instead of demeaning sarcasm. Twats like you should **** if you cant be bothered to help someone.
Prick.

Search for related previous postings, before creating a new thread. If you create a new thread asking something that has already been asked, don’t be surprised if the thread gets deleted without notice.

You need to manually edit xorg.conf and put correct values under HorizSync, VertRefresh, and modes, but since you`re new to linux i guess you are looking for simpler solution, so if i were you i`d go for "sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg" which is explained in the beginning of xorg.conf itself.

I know that when you first boot up the live cd, you have to enter "startx". I had a laptop, and it used to work fine. But then I upgrade to an HP laptop, and when I enter "startx", it flashed to a black screen, then returns to the terminal, with this"

@macphail may have been too sarcastic, but still that does not give you the right to use such language, also pure_hate gave you a solution.

Sadly, you are operating from the assumption that users on here have some knowledge.
Purehate's answer of "fix-vesa" is great if you know WHAT vesa is AND how to fix it.
And, because i was launching from a USB drive and have NO idea how backtrack stores files, "2. Xorg -configure and then cp /root/xorg.conf.new /etc/X11/xorg.conf" might as well have been written in Chinese.

Its all well and good standing high and mighty pouring scorn on us Windows users whom are either migrating or just "playing" around with a new operating system.
Its a difficult transistion and all he (and I) wanted was a bit of clear, understandable help. Not some facitious answer. Even the FAQs' arent that helpful for someone like me, it was only until i could get a working GUI that i could then start to unravel backtrack.
All he (we) wanted was a bit of direction. Learning an OS properly takes years,even longer learning a new one as things dont work the way you are used to.
If you cant contribute something helpful to a beginner, dont contribute at all and leave the path clear for those that can/will.

Well if you would have just read the first link I gave you, you would have realized that BackTrack requires advanced Linux skills, and we are not here to teach you Linux nor are we here to see you insult other members. A quick search on the forum or Google would have given you an answer.

The FAQ clearly states that if you have not used Linux before and are not familiar with it BackTrack is not the distribution for you, so I suggest you download Kubuntu/Ubuntu till you get familiar with Linux.